This invention relates generally to storage devices, and, more particularly, to a storage safe capable of reliably securing therein a flexible media such as an optical disk containing digitized data thereon.
One of the highest-density storage media in use today for digitized data is what is commonly referred to as the optical disk. Generally, optical disks are transparent or reflective disks, usually of plastic or coated in plastic, which have been encoded with a form of digitized information by imposition of "pits" in the surface. The configuration of these pits may be decoded for reassembly of the original information, often displayed on a television monitor. Over the last several years, a standard disk configuration has emerged, with the information-bearing pits essentially engraved in a metal film sandwiched between two protective disks. These disks are physically rigid, in the fashion of a phonograph record, and are reproduced by a hydraulic "pressing" procedure. The hydraulic process for reproduction of conventional video disks has substantially contributed to a very high investment requirement to tool up for production of these disks. A new process has been designed for relief of the heavy investment problem, and promises to find many applications where customer ownership of the means of production is important, such as those where the data content of the disks would be classified. The disk of such a system is simply a piece of photographic film, reproduced by a simple contact printing process. The pits are replaced by a photographically-produced dark images. Another important characteristic of this optical disk is that the media is flexible.
While tremendous advantages accompany such flexible optical disks, and the aforementioned design in particular, the tremendous concentration of classified information leaves with it problems of secure storage of such disks. In general, each disk is capable of storing thousands of video frames of imagery, graphics, text or any other form of information ultimately displayable, for example, on a video screen. Such stored information corresponds to a large number of printed pages. In fact, a one-inch stack of disks could conservatively contain the equilvalent of over 100,000 printed pages of text. This shrinking volume of data will definitely have an impact on the way data is stored in the future. Two, four, and five-drawer safes of the past will become impractical for storage of optical disks, because of the relatively large volume of space such safes occupy. In addition, smaller safes simply set on an office floor represent the risk of theft to another location for "punching" and opening.
It is clearly evident, therefore, from the above information that with the continued increased use of such optical disks, it is now essential that a practical and reliable means for storage of such disks should be made available. Further, as pointed out above, the safes or storage facilities now available for other types of media are not practical for the storage of the flexible optical disks described above.